Adjustable cantilever shelves



9, 1955 A. o. JOHNSON 3,212,836

ADJUSTABLE QANTILEVER SHELVES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 21, 1963 Oct.19, 1965 A. o. JOHNSON 3,212,836

ADJUSTABLE CANTILEVER SHELVES Filed Aug. 21, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2United States Patent 3,212,836 ADJUSTABLE CANTILEVER SHELVES Allen 0.Johnson, Evansville, Ind., assignor to Whirlpool Corporation, acorporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 21, 1963, Ser. No. 303,626 2 Claims.(Cl. 312-351) This invention relates to a refrigerator cabinet.

In the usual type of refrigerator cabinet means are provided forsupporting refrigerator shelves, fruit and vegetable drawers (commonlyknown as crispers) and meat drawers. It had been proposed to make theshelves adjustable, so that their locations can be changed somewhat, butordinarily the extent of possible adjustment is somewhat limited,wasting much space and affording less space for the storage of food.

One of the features of the present invention is to provide in arefrigerator cabinet cantilevered article retaining means that aremovable to a desired position, both horizontally as well as vertically,with the article retaining means being in the form of shelves, vegetableand fruit containers, meat containers and the like.

Another feature of the invention is to provide such a constructionhaving flexibility in the movement of shelves so that the shelves may bepulled out or removed without interference by the door or itscomplements, particularly when the door is precluded from opening morethan 90 by, for instance, a wall or cabinet.

Another feature of the invention is to provide improved cantileveredarticle retaining means that may be moved to a desired position whilethe means is held essentially horizontal so as not to disturb articlesretained thereon.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description of certain embodiments thereof as disclosed in theaccompanying drawings. Of the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of a refrigeratorfreezer cabinet embodyingthe invention with the door omitted from the refrigerator section forillustrative purposes.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the embodiment of FIGURE 1,partially in section.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional detail view of a portionof FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional detail view of a portion of theembodiment of FIGURES l and 2.

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 but on a smaller scale andillustrating a second embodiment of the invention.

In the embodiment of FIGURES 14 inclusive the refrigerator cabinet isprovided with rear wall means containing a series of vertically spaced,substantially horizontal support members 11 extending from side to sideof the Wall means 10 as shown in FIGURE 1. These may be located over thefull area of a wall, such as the wall 10, or over only a portion of thewall. In this embodiment each support member 11 is provided with avertical flange 12 spaced forwardly of the wall means 10 with all theflanges being substantially in the same vertical plane. Thus, eachsupport member 11 comprises a horizontal forwardly extending part 13 andthe front vertical flange 12 extending upwardly from the front thereof.The vertically spaced, substantially horizontal support members 11 maybe a part of the wall 10 of the refrigerator cabinet or the supportmembers 11 may be removable for cleaning. One construction isillustrated in FIGURE 3 in which a plurality of members 11 are integralwith a vertical rear plate 30, a series of which may be attached to thecabinet. In this embodiment each rear plate 30 and attached members 11may be a metal extrusion such as aluminum.

3,212,335 Patented Oct. 19, 1965 The cantilevered article retainingmeans or shelf 14 is made up of a pair of side supports 14a having theusual cross wires 15 thereon. The rear of the supports 14a are providedwith hooks 16 (FIGURE 3) adapted to hook over a flange 12 and lower footportions 17 each adapted to bear against the front surface of a lowerflange 12. With this construction the shelf 14 is securely held inposition regardless of the weight of articles placed on the shelf.

As can be seen in FIGURE 1, each shelf 14 is narrower in over-all widththan the length of the support members 11 so that the shelf may bearranged in the desired horizontal position from side to side of thecabinet 18. In addition. because of the plurality of support members 11each shelf may also be arranged in the desired vertical position withinthe cabinet 18. This, of course, makes the shelving arrangementextremely versatile so that almost any arrangement of shelving desiredcan be obtained, and then easily changed to a new arrangement.

A very important advantage of the cabinet structure of this invention isthis wider latitude in positioning the shelf both vertically andhorizontally. In addition, the shelf 14 may easily be moved to avertical position even when loaded with articles, as the shelf may beheld horizontal so as not to disturb the articles, lifted to remove itfrom the flanges 12 and then remounted on other flanges in a differentlocation, all without disturbing the articles.

As is also illustrated in this first embodiment, the article retainingmeans may be in the form of fruit and vegetable or meat retaining pans19. Each pan is provided with an upper side flange 20 slidably supportedin a horizontal groove 21 that is located in side supports 22 similar tothe side supports 14a of the shelf 14. The side supports 22 are providedwith hooks 23 similar to the hooks 16 and foot portions 24 similar tothe foot portions 17. Thus, here again the pan 19 may be positioned asdesired from the cabinet wall means 10. A convenient arrangement of thepans 19, when the door (not shown) opens to the right against a wall, isillustrated in FIGURE 1 in which two pans are vertically stacked. Analternate and usual position for one of the pans 19 is illustrated bythe broken lines at the bottom of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 illustrates a second embodiment of the invention. Here the rearwall 10 of the cabinet 18 is provided with vertical brackets 25 havingvertically spaced recesses 26 that open upwardly and outwardly. In thisembodiment the cantilevered article retaining means 27 which isillustrated in FIGURE 5 in the form of a shelf is supported by a recessengaging portion 28 adapted to be held in a recess 26 and a foot portion29 adapted to bear rearwardly against the vertical bracket 25. Hereagain, the retaining means 27 may be moved to adjusted position, eithervertically or horizontally, and will be retained securely in place.Furthermore, in order to shift to another location it is merelynecessary to lift upwardly without removing articles from the retainingmeans. The supporting features of the FIGURE 5 embodiment may, ofcourse, be applied to a pan structure of the type illustrated in FIGURE4.

Having described my invention as related to the embodiments shown in theaccompanying drawings, it is my intention that the invention be notlimited by any of the details of description, unless otherwisespecified, but rather be construed broadly within its spirit and scopeas set out in the accompanying claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A cabinet, comprising: wall means in said cabinet; a series ofvertically spaced substantially horizontal sup port members on said wallmeans, said support members being arranged in groups made up of aplurality of support members and with each group being an extrusion ofsubstantially uniform cross section; and a cantilevered articleretaining means having support member engaging means at an inner end forsupport from said support member at a desired vertical elevation, saidarticle retaining means being narrower than the length of said supportmembers for positioning at desired locations along said support members.

2. A refrigerator cabinet, comprising: a wall means in said cabinet; aseries of vertically spaced substantially horizontal support memberseach having a vertical flange on and spaced forwardly of said Wallmeans, said support members being arranged in groups made up of aplurality of support members and with each group being an extrusion ofsubstantially uniform cross section; and a cantilevered articleretaining means having support member engaging means at an inner end forsupport from a said support member at a desired vertical elevation, saidengaging means including a hook portion adapted to engage a said flangeand a foot portion adapted to bear against a lower said flange, saidhook and foot portions also being spaced from said wall means whenthusly engaging said flanges to space said article retaining means awayfrom said refrigerator cabinet wall means, said article retaining meansbeing narrower than the length of said support members for positioningat desired locations along said support member,

FOREIGN PATENTS 632,642 12/61 Canada.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Examiner.

1. A CABINET, COMPRISING: WALL MEANS IN SAID CABINET; A SERIES OFVERTICALLY SPACED SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL SUPPORT MEMBERS ON SAID WALLMEANS, SAID SUPPORT MEMBERS BEING ARRANGED IN GROUPS MADE UP OF APLURALITY OF SUPPORT MEMBERS AND WITH EACH GROUP BEING AN EXTRUSION OFSUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM CROSS SECTION; AND A CANTILEVERED ARTICLERETAINING MEANS HAVING SUPPORT MEMBER ENGAGING MEANS AT AN INNER END FORSUPPORT FROM SAID SUPPORT MEMBER AT A DESIRED VERTICAL ELEVATION, SAIDARTICLE RETAINING MEANS BEING NARROWER THAN THE LENGTH OF SAID SUPPORTMEMBERS FOR POSITIONING AT DESIRED LOCATIONS ALONG SAID SUPPORT MEMBERS.